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Plastic waste is a serious problem for the environment. Under natural conditions, it decomposes into particles smaller than 5 millimeters. Since plastic litter is still a relatively recent phenomenon, its impact on the Earth has not yet been fully investigated.
An international scientific team applied machine learning methods to assess the damage that microplastics cause to soil. It turned out that the soil is significantly affected, first of all, by the size of the fragments, and then by their structure and quantity.
In addition, it turned out that flora absorbs plastic, after which polymer fragments through food chains can find themselves in the human body.
